Research shows that marginalized populations have lower mental health literacy compared to the general public (1), (2) . This trend is evident in the Muslim community (3), (4), (5), where clinical approaches to mental illness are often overlooked due to the associated stigma (3), (4), and community members lack awareness of mental health professionals that provide culturally-competent and spiritually adopted care. (6) As a result, there is a significant lack of utilization of mental health resources in this population despite significant mental health needs. This has been seen in the Muslim communities in Canada – but there is a paucity of literature on mental health promotion endeavors in Muslim communities in North America.

In the currently proposed panel session, the four panelists will discuss examples of recent endeavors in Canada in addressing this gap. The first panelist is a psychiatrist with extensive involvements in mental health endeavors for the Muslim community in Toronto. She will discuss about a program that she has initiated called "Mindfully Muslim" - which is an 8-week group therapy program (covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan) integrating MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy) and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (mind-body work, also known as Gestalt therapy) with Islamic wisdom. The primary aim of the program is spreading peace and ease through the relief of mental & emotional suffering and the release of pain. Each session opens and closes with a dua (prayer), includes a didactic component, exercises and guided meditative practices. The program is compassionate, culturally aware, inherently anti-oppressive and trauma-informed. Safety and confidentiality are highly respected, and no participant is ever pressured to share sensitive information.

The second panelist, who is the Practitioner Co-PI and Project Lead of the “Inspiring Muslim Minds - Youth” project – will present on this project which consists of a psychoeducation series in mosques across the Greater Toronto Area to increase mental health literacy among Muslim youth. The project has been an inaugural recipient of the Healthy Generation Fund at the University of Toronto. Thus far, four psychoeducation workshops have been delivered to participants (n = 120) at four places of worship across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area in partnership with their respective faith and community groups over the course of January to August 2018. The pre- and post-survey was developed by adapting the Mental Health Literacy Scale (7) to maximize its relevance to the Muslim community. It has been found that participant responses had improved significantly across the four domains of the survey: confidence in accessing mental health resources (t=-8.94 , p<.001), attitudes to mental illness (t=6.14, p<.001), willingness to access mental health resources (t=3.95 , p<.001), and stigma towards mental health illness (t=-1.85 , p=.068) . The largest difference was in participants’ confidence in accessing mental health resources. The results point towards the short-term positive impact of psychoeducation workshops to increase mental health literacy among the participants – thus provide evidence to support the ongoing delivery of culturally-competent support programs and workshops at mosques and faith-based organizations – with particular emphases on increasing knowledge of and access to culturally-competent mental health services. Further workshops are underway and further detailed results will be presented at this proposed panel session.

The third panelist is a clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and member of the Organizing Committee of the Canadian Muslim Mental Health Conference (CMMHC) and a research team member of the Inspiring Muslim Minds - Addictions - at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. She will present on the annual CMMHC – currently in its 3rd year – organized in collaboration with the Muslim Medical Association of Canada and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. The four main objectives of the Conference include: 1) To bring together and strengthen connections between health care providers, organizations, individuals with lived experience, students, spiritual leaders and researchers working with Muslim mental health issues in Canada; (2) To provide psychoeducation to the general public on mental health topics in the context of spirituality and Islam; (3) To decrease the stigma of mental illness within the Muslim community; (4) To increase access to culturally and spiritually appropriate mental health resources to the Muslim community. The Conference has been a collaboration between mental health professionals and religious scholars. A Muslim mental health resource guide with Muslim mental health professionals has also been created along with a point person to triage individuals to appropriate resources. Details on the Conference including the organizational logistics and evaluations will be presented. The third panelist will also present on the "Inspiring Muslim Minds - Addictions" project.

The fourth panelist, the Faculty Co-PI of the “Inspiring Muslim Minds - Youth” project, will discuss the findings from the aforementioned mental health promotion endeavors among Muslim communities in Canada – in light of findings from i) mental health promotion endeavors among other faith communities in Canada; (ii) other Canadian endeavors related to promoting interprofessional collaborations between mental health and spiritual care professionals; (iii) Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership, organized by the American Psychiatric Association.

The session will conclude with recommendations by the panelists on the future directions of mental health promotion endeavors among Muslim communities in Canada – which would likely have applicability to similar endeavors in the United States and other Western countries.